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The kind of man Barry Bonds is... Topic

From Bob Smizik (retired Pittsburgh Post Gazette Columnist) in his daily blog....Today, he answers some questions.

Shows you just how big a butt hole he is.

Michael Bowers, Editor at Newsday Westchester: The stories about Barry Bonds all seem to be so universally negative and consistently portray him as rude and difficult. Is it really that black and white? Surely you must have something positive to say about him? Not even Satan gets so much universally bad press. I'm always suspicious when something is so over-the-top extreme like that... or is he really just a bad apple?

You want something nice, here it is:

I was walking back to my hotel after a game of the 2004 World Series in St. Louis, where the Red Sox were in the process of sweeping the Cardinals. Coming out of the hotel was Bonds, with a woman. Our eyes met. He smiled in recognition. We approached each other and shook hands. I congratulated him on having a great season. He asked about me and after a few seconds we parted. Anyone viewing the encounter would have taken it as a meeting of two old friends.

That’s the only positive I can give you about Barry. I was stunned by the meeting because we never had a good relationship when he was with the Pirates. I couldn’t wait to get back to Pittsburgh and tell my colleagues, who probably would not believe what I was saying.

I remember approaching his locker after a playoff game, probably 1992, and from the back of a group I asked a question. His response, without looking up. ``I’m not answering your questions, Smizik.’’

Bonds is a bad guy. Jeff Pearlman wrote a book about Bonds about five or six years ago. I can’t find this particular passage but it went something like this: The Giants were walking into a visiting clubhouse and the attendant was asking players to contribute to a fund for the son of Brian Fisher, who had a serious illness. Fisher was a teammate of Bonds with the Pirates. Bonds’ response, as I recall it: ``(Bleep) you,’’ to the attendant and ``(Bleep) Brian Fisher.’’

Another: In 2002, two PNC Park groundskeepers were killed in an auto accident. Not their fault. They left behind four children, no insurance. A couple of photographers who covered the Pirates attempted to raise money by getting star players to sign memorabilia. Plenty of guys signed, including Sammy Sosa, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling. When Barry came to town he was asked: His answer: ``I ain’t signing (bleep).’’

Here’s one more of a different nature. In an advance of the first game of the 1992 playoffs, I did some kind of story, which I don’t remember, but in it I pointed out several on-the-field similarities between Bonds and Andy Van Slyke. The next time I was in the locker room, Van Slyke approached me and asked if we could go outside to talk. He was not angry but he said because I compared him with Bonds he would no longer grant me interviews. He would, he said, talk to me during the playoffs because they were so important, but that was it.

That, I think, tells you what his teammates thought of him. They didn’t even want to be mentioned in the same sentence.

I once coached Bonds' godson in little league. I didn't know that's who he was until about three-quarters through the season when Bonds showed up to one of our games. Midway through the game Bonds brought some Gatorade and seeds to the dugout and asked if I could give them to the kid. A few weeks later, as the season was wrapping up Barry showed up at our final practice and called me aside and shook my as he thanked me for getting his godson interested in baseball. He said prior to that season his godson only cared about soccer and he appreciated my making baseball exciting for him. Then he said he had something for me and asked me to head over to his truck. Once we got there he had a signed bat and tickets to an up coming series with the Giants.

My only other experience was when I was working at Bank One Ballpark and several hours before a game I was eating my lunch on top of the dugout when Matt Williams and another Diamondback (I think Kim, but I don't recall for sure) and two Giants (Bonds included) came out and were throwing a frisbee on the field. One of Williams throws ended up in the seats not to far from me so I threw it back towards Bonds (he was closest to me) and he said a polite thank you.

So, I can say all of my Bonds experiences have been positive... In fact my only negative encounter with a ball player (and I've met several through my current job and when I worked at the ballpark) was when Johnny Gomes motioned for me to kiss his *** during a game after some good heckling. Though I have a friend who met Randy Johnson recently and asked RJ if he minded letting his kids get a picture with him and RJ let loose some choice words asking who my friend thought he was and why he thought RJ should give a hoot about him or his kids.

I lived in Pittsburgh from 1987-1992 (it was dirt cheap to get Pirates tickets back then, even with the 3 division titles) and went to a lot of games. Met Bonds on 2 occasions and found him to be very friendly and polite, although obviously reserved. He was cantankerous to the press even in those days, but I always found him to be friendly to the fans, and reasonably accomodating when asked for autographs, etc.

None of which is to question the veracity of any of the stories in the original article, but human beings are complicated. You could find 3 stories about any of us that would make us out to be a$$holes, and 3 stories about any of us that would make us look like saints. The world is never that simple.

Posted by contrarian23 on 4/18/2013 11:28:00 AM (view original):I lived in Pittsburgh from 1987-1992 (it was dirt cheap to get Pirates tickets back then, even with the 3 division titles) and went to a lot of games. Met Bonds on 2 occasions and found him to be very friendly and polite, although obviously reserved. He was cantankerous to the press even in those days, but I always found him to be friendly to the fans, and reasonably accomodating when asked for autographs, etc.

None of which is to question the veracity of any of the stories in the original article, but human beings are complicated. You could find 3 stories about any of us that would make us out to be a$$holes, and 3 stories about any of us that would make us look like saints. The world is never that simple.

True, but if you questioned everybody that worked with me you wouldn't find half of them (or more) think I'm an a$$hole.

"What is caracarn?"
- If someone cuts you off in traffic, you should roll down your window and shout "caracarn"
- After taking a big dump, you wipe your caracarn
- If you're ever in prison, you might wind up with a very sore caracarn